A whole new class

[bwt1213]

I just finished a board and counted the number of words I entered that were rejected. There were more than ten. They were all of the same pattern: words that ended in "ing" for which the plural was rejected. So, "blusterings" was okay, but "blisterings" was not. "Buttering" was fine, but "butterings" was not. For heaven's sake, "bittering" was counted, and "bitterings" was not. I've mentioned this before, but let me say it again: a GERUND is a noun. Noun plurals are formed by adding an "s". AL.WAYS. If it's not in the dictionary, it ought to be. This is elementary English grammar. In fact, I'm struggling to find any example of any English word ending in "ing" for which the ending "ings" is not valid. I'm sure Lalatan could come up with one, or Spike, if one actually exists.

[leabhar]

I just finished a board and counted the number of words I entered that were rejected. There were more than ten. They were all of the same pattern: words that ended in "ing" for which the plural was rejected. So, "blusterings" was okay, but "blisterings" was not. "Buttering" was fine, but "butterings" was not. For heaven's sake, "bittering" was counted, and "bitterings" was not. I've mentioned this before, but let me say it again: a GERUND is a noun. Noun plurals are formed by adding an "s". AL.WAYS. If it's not in the dictionary, it ought to be. This is elementary English grammar. In fact, I'm struggling to find any example of any English word ending in "ing" for which the ending "ings" is not valid. I'm sure Lalatan could come up with one, or Spike, if one actually exists.

Thank you, thank you! As non-native speaker I have encountered this as well and I thought it was because my grasp of English (in many forms) was lacking. I never quite understood why is was that ...+s was accepted some times and not other times. You just have proven that my natural language feeling was right. Thank you!

[bwt1213]

The only way any word ending in "ing" does not take "s" for an ending is if the word is not a noun or verb. So, "annoying" doesn't take an "s". "Nothing" doesn't, either (despite the song "Sweet Nothings"). On the other hand, there are words that are used in multiple ways and aren't always an adverb or adjective and so DO take an "s" plural: "boring", "piping", and "running", for example. But every single gerund in existence IS a noun and has an "s" plural.

[Spike1007]

I've also always thought that pluralizing gerunds should be kosher. Then again, many dictionaries are put together based on real-world usage rather than perfectly logical rules. (I have an old official Hasbro computer version of Boggle, and it seems pretty random whether these plurals work or not. I waste lot of time trying them anyway.) I'd be on the side of counting them, but upping the rarity. (Given how I play, I admit that would be a little self serving though.)

[lalatan]

I've mentioned this before, but let me say it again: a GERUND is a noun. Noun plurals are formed by adding an "s". AL.WAYS. If it's not in the dictionary, it ought to be. This is elementary English grammar. In fact, I'm struggling to find any example of any English word ending in "ing" for which the ending "ings" is not valid. I'm sure Lalatan could come up with one, or Spike, if one actually exists.

I agree in principle but as Spike said lexicographers decide what is valid. I don't excited when I spot -ing on a board and usually look for something else. An -ing suffix will usually result in a low-scoring word unless there is some high-scoring word to pair with it (like REINSTITUTIONALIZING for 41 pts). For the last 3 years I took a screenshot of any new word worth 22+ pts I found and put it in a folder. Just for kicks I did a search of the folder now for -ing. 3.6% of the words ended with -ing (admittedly more than I thought there'd be) but only 0.3% ended with -ings. If there were an -s to add I would've tried it.

[DonGuy47]

I'm not clear on the details, but the issue is that not every verb-ing can be a gerund (noun). Some of them are only adjectives or verbs. I think "radiating" is an example of a verb-ing that is never a noun.

[bwt1213]

I'm not clear on the details, but the issue is that not every verb-ing can be a gerund (noun). Some of them are only adjectives or verbs. I think "radiating" is an example of a verb-ing that is never a noun.

Since all gerunds are nouns by definition, "radiating" can't be a gerund if "radiatings" isn't a word. On the other hand, the pluralized meaning would be covered by the word "radiations" already. I've already said this area is a "slippery slope", but given all the "-nesses" words in the dictionary, I think a blanket "every noun ending in ing should have a plural form ending in ings" should be established. As far as "never a noun", I give you this (tongue in cheek): "Radiating is the noun in this sentence". I also offer this more standard use: "An object can radiate infrared, ultraviolet, or particles such as gamma rays. It can be radiating any of them." Please note that "radiating" here is not a gerund. It is a part of the verb, and that is the ordinary use of "radiating". It is not a gerund, despite the ending.

For the words I mentioned earlier as having been rejected, words like "butterings" distress me most, because it's trivial to construct a sentence using it, and every native English speaker (and, I'll bet many non-native speakers as well) will immediately understand what it means and accept it as a perfectly legitimate word with no plausible alternative. I would offer: "I can butter my toast with butter from the refrigerator, with butter warm and soft from the table, or with melted butter from the stove. Of all these butterings, I prefer the melted butter." The only difficulty here is that "butter" can be either a noun or a verb, and only the verb could be used to construct the gerund. Likewise, blisterings is easily understood -- but blister can be either a noun or a verb, just like butter. Maybe there's a pattern here, but I can't say I like it. It's not logical.

[63chev]

I'll add my two cents and agree that it's pretty frustrating and time consuming when some "ing" endings take an "s" and some don't. Since they don't come up that often it's hard to memorize all instances when a "s" will be accepted, even if it makes sense in my mind that it should work. So in the end I'll go over it twice and lose time that I could get other words....